The source of food supplies were added to in 1601,when Sir James Lancaster started a tradition of leaving sheep on the Island “for the relief of strangers that might come thither”. He left six (6) sheep and two (rams). His practice continued and in 1604 Cornelius Matelief, a Dutch Admiral, also left sheep on the Island “so that if any should come which could get no trade on the mainland, they would find something here”. In 1609 Captain William Keeling did the same.
